The Mendelssohnian Theory: Action Adventure, Sci-Fi, Apocalyptic ,Y/A (12 page)

When Adam returned to his cabin, Jewel was awake and waiting for
him. She smiled at him embarrassedly and invited him to sit beside her on the
bed with a gesture. He obeyed and as soon as he’d sat down Jewel closed the
side partitions around them. For a moment, darkness engulfed them, then the
ceiling lights turned on and spread a soft illumination around them. He tried
to capture her gaze with his eyes, but she avoided him and sat motionless by
his side. He waited for her to say something, to explain her behavior, but she
remained silent. “I didn’t even notice when you left,” Adam finally said.

“I like to sleep in my own bed,” said Jewel and a smile shone
on her face, a faulty smile, because it seemed to Adam that Jewel found it
difficult to raise it on her lips.

“Are you all right?” asked Adam and placed his hand on hers.
She didn’t move her hand, but also didn’t turn it around to hold his.

“Sure,” she said and jumped up. “Come on,” she announced,
“let’s go and practice,” and she pulled Adam after her. Adam was dragged along.
He was surprised by the quick change in her mood and wondered what she had
meant by ‘practice’. They got out of their cabin and walked around the long
corridors until they reached a spacious hall. Jewel explained to him it was the
level training complex. It contained second-generation simulation workshops
(Second Generation Simulation Workspace ©) for most hand-to-hand combat
methods, as well as ones that simulated the use of light or heavy weaponry.
“Fencing?” asked Jewel and pulled Adam toward the fencing workshop. Adam
thought Jewel wouldn’t be much of a rival in his favorite sport and gladly
obliged. He chose his weapon and faced her in the small ring allotted them. In
all the combat lessons he had learned in the British training complex, the
saber was his favorite weapon. When he held the long sword in his hand, he felt
as if it became a part of him. Fencing helped his concentration, focused his
senses and consciousness. Elizabeth had said fencing would improve the function
of his brain chip, and Adam believed her. While Adam was busy with assessing
the weight and balance of the saber in his hand, Jewel attacked first. Adam
barely managed to evade the blow, which impressed him with its force and
precision. He needed to reevaluate Jewel’s skills. She broke into an attack
that combined the saber and her agile body. Adam was forced to defend himself
as well as he could and tried to find an opening that will allow him to
initiate his own attack. They quickly moved across the ring, perspiring and
silent. Jewel trapped him in a corner and made him retreat back toward the
complex’s wall. Adam began to be aware of his imminent loss. Jewel was a better
swordswoman and after struggling with each other for nearly half an hour, he
began to recognize that fact. She surprised him with her skill with the saber
and her agility, and he was pressed back and couldn’t find a way to initiate a
counter-attack. Then, when he began to see his coming defeat, his brain chip
kicked into action and with an almost inhuman twist, he released himself from
his opponent’s grasp. His mind quickly analyzed various attack options and
possibilities until suddenly he could clearly see the opening that would allow
him to win the battle. Jewel tended to incline her body slightly to the right
before attacking, leaving her left side as a shield and her left hand to
balance her body. Instead of evading her, Adam brought his body closer to hers
and with a circular movement, struck her back with his saber. The simulation
immediately stopped and he was declared the winner by the computerized system.
They remained attached to one another for an instant, and then separated,
breathing heavily side-by-side.

“Where did you learn to fight like that?” asked Adam once he
regained his breath.

“A good actor must be successful in every role,” said Jewel
and Adam felt her mood had wondrously improved following the combat training
session. Jewel possessed the talent of ‘infecting’ those around her with her
emotions. She certainly managed to infect him.

“What’s with the ‘playing’ and ‘acting’ you’re always talking
about?” He asked, “You don’t really mean acting in movies, do you?”

Jewel turned serious and silent before answering quietly, her
voice barely audible: “I’m talking about our roles in the game of life, kid.
That’s the only acting part that matters.”

Two of the engineers they’d seen yesterday at dinner entered
into the training complex. The two noticed Adam and Jewel and walked toward
them. Adam felt Jewel was becoming tense and without moving, transferred his
suit to tactical mode. The engineers, not sensing Adam and Jewel’s tension,
stood next to them and smiled at the young couple. There was nothing pleasant
about their smile. “I see that you’ve already chosen your companion,” the taller
of the two addressed Jewel, “a bit too young for you, don’t you think? I’m not
sure he’ll be an equal rival for you on the web. Allow me to suggest myself as
an alternative.”

Jewel shuddered, then her face assumed a professional-like
expression. “Your request has been considered and denied.”

“He looks like a minor to me,” said the man, his smile
widening, “doesn’t he look like a minor to you?” he addressed his friend who
cooperated and nodded. “Perhaps we should report you to the authorities. You
know the rules.” Jewel quickly dragged the confused Adam away from the two men
whose cruel laughter could be heard all across the hallways. She leaned on him
just as she had done the previous evening when they had walked back from the
dining hall.

Adam was tired of being manipulated and stopped in his
tracks. Jewel was startled and almost tripped. He helped her to balance herself
by grabbing her shoulders, pinning her to her place. “Who are you?” he demanded
to know, “and what the hell is the ‘web’ you were talking about?” His voice was
clearly heard in the silent corridor. Jewel didn’t answer. She stood there,
trapped within his hands. The strength drained from her, and she hung onto his
grasp. “He thought you were a prostitute, didn’t he?” When she kept silent, he
kept pressuring her, “didn’t he?” Jewel nodded and her face wore an unreadable
expression.

“That is really who you are,” he said when the truth was
finally clear. He felt cheated. He’d been lied to and abused again. The one who
dazzled and charmed him, she, of all people, proved to be the most
disappointing. He released her from his grasp and went away. Jewel remained
where she was, and couldn’t even turn her head to look at his back, as he
walked away from her.

Adam returned to his cabin and enclosed himself behind the
partitions. He lay in his bed and stared at the smooth ceiling above. His head
buzzed and ached and angered. He was angry at the corporation that was after
him, at Elizabeth who had sent him into space, at Don who had planted the suspicion
in his heart and, of course, at Jewel, and about the fact that everyone was
deceiving him. He was mainly angry at himself. Time and again he was tempted
with ease to trust people. Out of fear and panic, he did not stop to ask
himself what he wanted and could do, without having everything explained to him
by others and without being pushed to continue to another destination. He
decided to stop running. He was tired of serving as a pawn in the games of
others, whether they wanted to harm him or believed they had his best interests
in mind. He was searching for answers now. A light knock on the partition wall
disrupted his thoughts. He diverted the partition open and there was Jewel. She
went inside his cabin and looked at him with broken eyes. It seemed to Adam
that she was frightened. He rose up, pushed himself back and made some room for
her beside him. After a slight hesitation, she sat down.

“Who are you?” he asked, “who are you really?”

“Jewel Barnes,” she answered.

“OK, Jewel Barnes,” said Adam, “what do you want from me?”
Jewel kept quiet. She just sat there, cuddled up. “You’re just like everyone
else,” he determined with distaste, “I thought you were different, that you
didn’t need anything from me. But I was wrong. You’re trying to manipulate me
as well.”

“I’m not,” Jewel protested, “you don’t understand anything.”
She buried her face in her hands and wept. “I thought you’d understand,” Adam
heard her saying from between her hands. He was surprised by her reaction and
his anger dissipated at once.

“This has something to do with the game you’ve told me about,
right?”

“Right,” answered Jewel.

“Maybe it’s time you told me what it is?”

Jewel raised her head. She avoided his eyes and said, “I’m
marked as ‘allowed’.”

“Allowed?” Adam didn’t understand.

“My chip destined me to provide certain services. It really
doesn’t matter how I feel about the profession chosen for me. As soon as I was
born, I was marked as such, and the chip implanted in me adjusted me for this
type of work.”

“The work of a prostitute?” Adam asked and immediately
regretted it.

“Providing female services,” she answered, “that was the only
implant my parents were able to afford.”

“How did the engineers recognize you as such?”

“I told you that I’m marked,” Jewel repeated, “try to look at
me through the filters with which the implant allows you to examine reality.”
Adam shifted his eyes to tactical mode and examined Jewel. It was the first
time he examined reality through one of the eye filters. He did not understand
all the data on the inner eye-screen. He selected various waypoints that
blinked in front of his eyes. One of them blinked and marked Jewel as ‘allowed’
to members of a certain social status and owners of brain implants and
forbidden to others. He couldn’t help but check if she was ‘allowed’ to him as
well. She was.

“Do you understand now?”

“I suppose you could have picked anybody,” he said, “why
me?” “Because you’re different,” said Jewel, “you can get me out of this
circle.”

“Different?” asked Adam, “how the hell am I different?”

“You’re undefined,” answered Jewel, “you’re a blank page.
Other than the fact they’re looking for you.” Adam wasn’t ready for her answer
and recoiled.

“You work for the corporation too?” he finally realized what
was so obvious.

“You know someone who doesn’t work for them?” asked Jewel.
“My mother always said that there are those who already work for them and those
that will soon be.” She drew silent for a moment and then added quietly, “But
I’ve bought my freedom from them,” she said proudly, “and I swore never to do
business with them again. I’m moving on to the private sector.”

“The private sector?” Adam didn’t follow.

“Yes,” answered Jewel, “they call themselves pirates after
the pre-Mendelssohnian sea bandits from Earth. I’m going to sign a new contract
with them.”

“So everything between us was an act?” Adam didn’t allow the
anger to be expressed in his voice, which was cold and emotionless.

Jewel hesitated before answering: “Perhaps it was in the
beginning, but not anymore,” she held out her hand and placed it on Adam’s.
Adam quickly removed his hand from hers. “I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

“And why did you tell me this now?”

“Because I’ve been exposed and it was only a matter of time
before you’d discover what I do.” Jewel was upset, hysterical emotions
intertwined in her voice.

Adam turned toward her. “I don’t get it.”

“What’s there to get?” screamed Jewel, “you really don’t know
anything. Where did you come from, the Jewish Reservation?”

“Yes,” answered Adam, “that’s where I come from.”

“Really?” she was surprised, “you really come from there?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he said with a measured voice, “get out
of here.” He opened the side partition and waited with a tense silence until
Jewel rose up, bent and defeated, and got out of his cabin. He closed the
partition and remained by himself. Alone again.

Even when inner-shuttle morning came, with its artificial light,
Adam remained within his sealed compartment. He lay in bed and surfed the net
through his Improvetegrated Eye-Screens (IES ©), investigating everything that
Jewel had told him. He learned of her profession, and the role world-society
had assigned her. He showed a special interest in the space pirates she’d said
she was related to. The extent of their activities and the damage they
inflicted on the corporations with their raids amazed him. He was interested in
the fact that anyone would actually manage to resist the corporations and the
superpowers and survive. Their strength lay in their small size and quickness.
‘Small is not necessarily a disadvantage,’ he remarked to himself. More than
anything, he was curious about ‘the game’ Jewel had spoken so proudly about.

Adam was angry with her. Jewel had hurt him and lied to him
in order to get closer, an active participant in the new intergalactic game
called ‘Use and Abuse Adam’. But he also understood her more, after discovering
more details about her status and profession. He admitted to himself that he
was worried about her, and his accusations now seemed petty and childish. His
anger gradually dissipated, and he rose from his bed and went out of his part
of the cabin.

Jewel remained in her sealed compartment as well. She knew
that Adam now distrusted her and did not blame him for his anger. If fact, she
was convinced he won’t ever want to see her again and once she’d realized that,
felt a sharp pang. In the few days, nearly two weeks, that had passed since
they’d met, Adam had become important to her. They’d spent almost their entire
time together, and Jewel loved to impress him, surprise him time after time and
see his eyes widen with wonder every time she shared her knowledge of the world
they were headed to with him. She loved his quiet ways, the sense of security
he gave those around him. She knew everything would be all right while she was
with him. He wasn’t even aware of possessing such qualities. She also knew that
at the moment, she was the only one who sensed all that, but before long,
everyone would notice his abilities. ‘With Adam, one could steal worlds’; she
borrowed a sentence one of her past lovers used to say about people whom he
trusted. And now she realized she’d thrown it all down the drain. She had
fallen in love with him and didn’t even have a chance to tell him that. ‘I
deserve it,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’m reaping what I’ve sown.’ On the
previous evening, she’d contacted her employers and told them she was
cancelling the deal between them, taking full responsibility for her failure and
paying an astronomical amount for being released from her obligations, an
amount which was much higher than the cost of space travel. But she didn’t
care. Adam had changed her. By meeting him, she’d learned to separate the wheat
from the chaff. The direct, simple way in which he viewed reality, had
impressed her so much even during their first meeting and she, as was her way,
concealed her excitement with outbursts of amusing chatter. A knock on her door
startled her. She stood up, opened the door and to her great surprise
discovered Adam standing in front of her. He was silent, and she waited
excitedly to hear what he had to say.

“Teach me to play the game,” Adam said. A smile shone on
Jewel’s face, and she failed to conceal it. “I assume it’s not very professional,
as far as playing the game is concerned, to be smiling uncontrollably,” Adam
added with a grim face, but Jewel detected a twinkle of humor in his eyes. She
knew he was breaking the ice with a joke and was grateful to him for allowing
her to get back with him without explanations. He caressed her cheek, and she
gave in to the touch of his hand, moved aside and allowed him to enter her
small room. In the remaining time of their journey, Jewel trained Adam and
taught him to play ‘The Game’. He learned to hide his emotions from others in
and out of the web, learned to read people according to their behavior and
their facial expressions. Jewel taught him how to control his body and his
face, how to cause people to believe him or detest him, love him and trust him,
or bear a grudge against him, all based on his wishes. Jewel was a good teacher
and Adam, at least that’s what his teacher had mentioned to herself, was the
most gifted pupil she’d ever taught. They conducted tours throughout the
shuttle and reached higher levels than the one in which they lived. Jewel would
give Adam tasks, which he would immediately carry out, sometimes with great
difficulty, other times he failed, but normally he would be successful in
getting what he wanted. Without coordinating it, they would take breaks from
‘The Game’, in which they created a type of bubble for themselves, normally in
one of their cabins; then, they attempted to behave as naturally as they could.
They made love (Adam discovered that Jewel had a lot to teach him about sex as
well); they told one another more about themselves and slept. They didn’t
discuss any plans for the future because both their futures were shrouded in
thick mists. They were comfortable together, and Adam felt safe beside Jewel,
not knowing how fragile his security actually was.